All Day Awareness

Does anyone have any tips for not getting overwhelmed when starting this method? I've tried it once or twice before, and I just can't focus on everything happening around me at once. I'll focus really hard on how I'm breathing and how my legs feel, then realize I'm not paying attention to what I smell or taste, so then I'll focus on that, then I'll realize I'm not focusing on something else and get flustered. It's very discouraging. Besides, I have a condition that makes it really hard to multitask (Asperger's. It's difficult to focus on even two things at once). That probably means I should try to find another technique, but I really want to master this one, because it sounds like it has really high success rates with people who stick with it.

Just pick one sense at a time if you're having difficulties. Look...REALLY look at the colors around you. Try to memorize - burn it into your memory so you can "see it" in your mind's eye...or take meticulous notice of the smells around you...or...well, you get the idea. :D

I wouldn't try focusing on literally everything at once. That would discourage anyone really. Plus remember man, it literally only takes one critical thought to become lucid. I practice Self Awareness, and every time I become Lucid its merely because of the activation of my critical thought. Rarely ever do I find myself ever noticing everything in a dream and becoming lucid because of it; I always become lucid way before that. Focusing on literally everything at once is just overdoing it in my opinion because it really doesn't take that much.

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I'll focus really hard on how I'm breathing and how my legs feel, then realize I'm not paying attention to what I smell or taste

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This sounds a lot more like self awareness than ADA, but that's not a bad thing by any means.

Thanks for the response. I am wondering, though, how did you personally increase your self-awareness to the point where you started becoming lucid from it? I just started reading the "Dream Yoga" course on this site (literally just started yesterday), that'll probably help. I'm also starting to do more reverse reality checks (at least, I think that's what they're called), where you just stop for a moment several times a day and just ponder all the ways you're affecting reality. Do you know of any other ways by any chance?

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Originally Posted by OneUp

I wouldn't try focusing on literally everything at once. That would discourage anyone really. Plus remember man, it literally only takes one critical thought to become lucid. I practice Self Awareness, and every time I become Lucid its merely because of the activation of my critical thought. Rarely ever do I find myself ever noticing everything in a dream and becoming lucid because of it; I always become lucid way before that. Focusing on literally everything at once is just overdoing it in my opinion because it really doesn't take that much.


This sounds a lot more like self awareness than ADA, but that's not a bad thing by any means.

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What critical question or questions do you ask yourself, OneUp??

For me I think its always better when you simplify what you are doing. Here's my technique. When you see something with color & a moving part of some kind, let's say a fan. I say out loud, "Black fan spins" & then I use a visualization in my head of the fan spinning after I look at it. It helps you notice the object itself, the color & it's motion. If it's a Stop light. I'd say "Stop light is Green which means go, Yellow means slow down & red means stop. You would be surprised about how many things you can apply a motion to in some way. This for me was a very useful tool from the very first day. Another good technique is to envision you flying somewhere. Close your eyes & think of some place you go very often. For me I use my husbands job. I used to work there too so I envision myself flying from my house all the way into his work area. Street by street, house by house (or at least the ones that stand out to you), over stop lights, past stop signs, through doors. Anything that's in your way, envision how you go through it or over it. Did you open the door of your house before you left? or Did you fly through it effortlessly. Make it fun, not like a chore or you won't want to do it again. Good luck, I hope that helps. I recommend doing that last one right before you go to bed with whatever else you are using for techniques. It actually relaxes you.

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Thanks for the response. I am wondering, though, how did you personally increase your self-awareness to the point where you started becoming lucid from it? I just started reading the "Dream Yoga" course on this site (literally just started yesterday), that'll probably help. I'm also starting to do more reverse reality checks (at least, I think that's what they're called), where you just stop for a moment several times a day and just ponder all the ways you're affecting reality. Do you know of any other ways by any chance?

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Practice, practice, and practice my man. Although I will say one thing that really speeds up the process of really getting self awareness down, is your drive; being how motivated you are, how strong your desire is to Lucid Dream and all of that stuff. I've heard across DV that dream yoga is extremely helpful with bringing about lucid dreams, and you can check out siviason's LD count for that. As for the reverse reality checks, those do work and are a good place to start but eventually you'll want to move onto a more constant awareness(its not as bad as it sounds) where you really just pay attention to what you're doing, feeling, thinking, and all that stuff all the time. Trust me its really easy once you get it down.

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What critical question or questions do you ask yourself, OneUp??

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It ranges from time to time. I usually never ask myself the same question twice because that'll get me used to the question which will lead me to answering the question in the future with little or no awareness at all.

Some of the questions are:
"Does this all make sense?"
"Why am I here?"
"What am I feeling right now?"
"Have I been here before?"

While these questions may seem really simple, when pondered on they really cultivate strong awareness of everything. And plus, it's not meant to be strenuous; these questions are just used to make one think and bring one out of that usual autopilot mode that the average person is always in. The autopilot mode refers to the state of consciousness where there really is no awareness and one does something without even thinking about it. To get an idea of that just think of the average person in the US who works at a job they hate. They get up at the same time every morning, eat the same food, go to the same place, work, and the only thought on their mind all day is "I can't wait to go home". Everything is the same. That's a real enemy with self awareness in my opinion.